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Do knowledge gains from public information campaigns persist over time? Results from a survey experiment on the Norwegian pension reform*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 May 2015

HENNING FINSERAAS
Affiliation:
Norwegian Social Research (NOVA), Norway Institute for Social Research, Norway
NIKLAS JAKOBSSON
Affiliation:
Norwegian Social Research (NOVA), Norway Karlstad Business School, Karlstad University, Sweden (e-mail: niklas.jakobsson@nova.hioa.no)
MIKAEL SVENSSON
Affiliation:
Karlstad Business School, Karlstad University, Sweden Department of Economics, Örebro University, Sweden

Abstract

Government authorities use resources on information campaigns in order to inform citizens about relevant policy changes. The motivation is usually that individuals sometimes are ill-informed about the public policies relevant for their choices. In a survey experiment where the treatment group was provided with public information material on the social security system, we assess the short- and medium-term knowledge effects. We show that the short run effects of the information on knowledge disappear completely within 4 months. The findings illustrate the limits of public information campaigns to improve knowledge about relevant policy reforms.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

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Footnotes

*

The research reported in this paper was supported by a grant from the Research Council of Norway (project 210446).

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